Midnight at the Lost and Found
by something like human
Summary: Long overdue continuation of the "Lost Boys & Golden Girls" arc which is the sequel to the Storms Arc . WuFei and Mariemaia are adjusting to life with Duo. A visitor to their apartment leads WuFei to contemplate his future.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Midnight at the Lost and Found  
Arc: Lost Boys and Golden Girls  
Rating: ages 13 and up  
Author: Something Like Human

Notes: Seven years since I updated this storyline? Wow. Also, this is a fic in a series. Please read the "Storms" arc and then "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" arc.

Timeline: This arc takes place after the first war and (obviously) shortly before the Eve's War- round-about the fall of AC196. This one picks up directly after "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" takes place.

Warnings: AU (I really mess with the story from here on out), shounen ai.

Disclaimers: I don't own GW nor do I own the song "Midnight at the Lost and Found" by Meatloaf.

I was putting laundry away in Duo's bedroom around mid-afternoon the doorbell rang. I was perplexed and at first did not know what the sound was. Duo did not have a lot of visitors and right now, he was not even home. He was at work and Mariemaia was at the elementary school down the street. We registered her under the name "May Maxwell" with the explanation that she was Duo's younger sister. She had told the teacher that she had been living with an elderly relative who recently passed away. I thought it was a plausible lie considering both of them seemed to possess an eye color that tended more towards violet than blue. We had debated on dying her hair brown to match his and to disguise her very noticeable red hair but opted to leave it alone. I was still afraid that Dekim's forces would be looking for her or me.

I was the only one home since I had not yet gotten a job so I made my way over to the intercom by the apartment door.

"Hello?" I asked without identifying myself. I was hoping that whoever it was had buzzed the wrong apartment.

"WuFei!" came a very cheerful response. "I wasn't expecting you to answer the com!"

It was Quatre. If I said that I was shocked by his sudden appearance that would have been an understatement.

"Winner, please come up. I'll unlock the door."

It took him several minutes to climb all of the stairs up to Duo's apartment. I opened the door for him and realized that I had to look up to him slightly. It seemed in the months since the war, he had grown several inches. I bowed slightly to him in greeting, which he ignored and instead hugged me.

"I can't believe how long it's been since I saw you!" He exclaimed releasing me from the hug. "When I got word that Duo had found you, or really you had found him, I had to come here to see you for myself. We were all very worried about you after the war. You were impossible to track down."

"Please come in and sit down," I offered trying to be a gracious host. I was thankful that I had just finished cleaning up the living room before starting the laundry. "I didn't want to be found for a while. I had a lot of things to think about."

We ended up sitting on the battered couch and chair in the living room. They still functioned well despite being ugly and well worn. I offered Quatre a drink which he accepted stating that he had just gotten to L2 on a shuttle that morning.

"I wanted to get here first to see you," he explained after sipping some of his ice water. "Lady Une is on her way here from Earth. I was hoping to beat her here."

"What could she want?" I asked. I suspected that she wanted something involving Mariemaia. Une had been very close to Treize and I could see that she would have an interest in his daughter.

"We're having a hard time locating Dekim Barton," he explained but seeing the confusion on my face, he continued. "Lady Une is leading the Preventers, a peacekeeping force that Duo probably told you about. She is hoping that either you or Mariemaia can help by providing some more information about his group and their whereabouts."

"She could have just asked over the phone," I scoffed.

He laughed. "Yeah, but I think that is her excuse to come here to talk to you and to see Treize's daughter. By the way, I don't see her or Duo. Did they leave you home alone today?"

"Funny, Winner," I just shook my head. "Duo is at work and May should be at school for another hour or so."

"You enrolled her in school?"

"Yes, she wanted to go and we thought some normal childhood experiences would do her some good. Although, she tends to be more annoyed by the kids in her class acting like children since she is used to being around adults most of her life."

"Ah, normalcy," Quatre sighed. "I wouldn't know what that was any more."

I chuckled at that comment. "What have you been up to and really, why did you feel the need to sneak in here before Lady Une?"

"I kind of just wanted to warn you about what was going on with the Preventers since, I work for them now, too. I don't actual get to run my father's business until I turn 25. It was getting boring tagging along with my sisters are they ran everything. I was bored and thought my skills were needed more for keeping peace than making money right now. Trowa joined as well. He's Earthside working on finding Dekim. I just finished an assignment and decided to stop off here to see you and Duo."

He talked about his life over the last few months. He seemed to really like working for the Preventers. He also recounted the time that he had spent working with Trowa and how everyone had attempted to find me after the war. I felt guilty for disappearing on everyone.

"Did you know that Heero is in college?"

"Yuy enrolled in school?" I asked in disbelief. "Is he using it as cover or something?"

"No, he actually wanted to go. I don't know what his major is but the last time that I spoke with him, he was enjoying the academics. Oh, I forgot to tell you!"

"Tell me what?"

"The other reason Lady Une is coming to see you and Duo." He sat back in the chair with a smile. "She has trust funds set up in both of your names. It seems that Treize had set up five of them – one for each of the pilots, during the war. It was weirdly parental of him but upon his death, all of his were divided up between the five funds and several other charities."

"I don't get it but alright," I said thinking about the man who had impaled himself on my weapon at the end of the war. "Did he not leave anything for his daughter?"

"Lady Une can find no record of him even knowing that she existed. She would like to have the child's DNA tested to confirm whether she is his daughter or not. She is definitely a Barton though because Trowa remembers seeing pictures of her that her uncle carried. You did know that Trowa stole the name of the original pilot of Heavyarms, right?"

I shook my head. "I was not aware. I can't say that we spoke very much about trivial things."

"Trowa doesn't have a name," Quatre's voice took on a twinge of sadness. "From his earliest memories, people only called him No-name. He just assumed the real Trowa Barton's identity when he died."

"He's in good company then with Duo," I replied. "He named himself."

"It seems that you and I were the only two to use our real names during the war."

"I always figured Yuy sharing the same name as the assassinated Yuy was a little too coincidental."

"He enrolled in college with his given name," Quatre explained. "I honestly didn't think he even knew his name, much like Trowa or Duo. He's going by Odin Lowe Jr now."

I laugh remembering reading about Yuy's assassination years ago. "So he actually has the same name as the person who killed the original Yuy. That is strangely ironic."

"Tell me about it!" Quatre laughed. "Relena is probably struggling the most with remembering to use his name. They're actually dating now, all official like."

"Sounds like Yuy… I mean Odin only had a flip a switch to become a normal teenager," I mused. He was nothing, if not adaptable.

"Speaking of teenagers and relationships," Quatre interjected. "How are you and Duo?"

"Duo and I?" I queried. I was definitely confused by his question insinuating that we had some sort of relationship.

"Oh, sorry, I just thought…" he trailed off looking around the room. "I mean, you two were always close and knowing Duo's preference and how much he missed you while you were gone, I just assumed. I well, considering he was the first person you ran to during your escape from Dekim's army that, well, I had assumed, you two were closer."

I realized then what he was getting at. He had thought that Duo and I were in a relationship. I was not sure how to answer that question. It was true that out of everyone in the Earthsphere, that I was closest to and cared about Duo the most. I looked over to the other end of the couch where the well worn, hideously green teddy bear sat. I smiled at the memory of passing that bear back and forth with the other pilot as a shared comfort object. Duo had kept it after the war. He had recently given it to May. The child loved it and carried it around the apartment with her almost constantly.

"I'm not really even sure how to classify Duo and I," I finally said in all honesty. "It is true that I consider him my closest friend. I take great comfort being around him and truthfully, my only thought when leaving with Mariemaia was to find him. I think that Duo is attracted to me or at least once was."

"Oh," Quatre said raising an eyebrow. "Is he? And how do you know that?"

"He kissed me, once," I explained. "Right after that mission where I had to wear that damn dress."

"You did make a rather attractive girl," Quatre teased. "If I were into girls, you might have gotten another kiss that day."

I just glared at him. I really did not want to have to remember that dreadful mission. I had to masquerade as Merian, my deceased wife, to gather information. I don't know what was worse about that mission, having to pretend to be Merian or having a bunch of lecherous old dignitaries flirt with me all night. If it was not for the comlink that I had with Duo, I probably would have killed someone that night.

I was saved from further contemplation when we heard the front door open.

"Yo, Fei, you need to remember to lock the door even if you are home!"

"Sorry," I replied turning to watch him enter the room. "I got distracted with our guest."

Duo looked at me with confusion and then turned to look at Winner. His face broke into a huge grin. "Hey, Quat! It's been a while! You stop by to try to steal Fei-fei from me to join the Preventers with you and Tro?"

"Hardly – although the offer still stands for both of you to join. We could use the help."

"Meh," was all Duo said as he kicked off his work boots. "We're parents now so we can't go chasing around bad guys and getting ourselves killed."

"That's right," Quatre replied. "I was so busy catching up with WuFei that I forgot to ask how the little girl is doing."

"I told you that she was in school," I responded. "She's been doing well but I still worry about her and what she went through with her grandfather."

"Any word on the old man yet, Quatre?" Duo asked plopping down on the couch next to me. He chose to sit in the center cushion putting me on his left and the ugly teddy bear on his right. I did not miss the glance that Quatre gave me when he sat down. I was not quite sure what the glance meant since Duo commonly chose to sit next to me on the couch.

"That's part of the reason why I'm here and that Une is on her way," he explained to Duo what the Preventers were looking for.

"I'm not surprised that she is coming. My understanding is that Lady Une was extremely close to Treize. That and I'm sure she's going to try to recruit you, Wu."

"I'm not sure if I want to be a Preventer at this time," I chuckle to myself with the train of thought I was having. "I'm just don't know what I want to be when I grow up."

Duo howled with laughter and patted my knee. Quatre laughed as well and said, "You've been hanging around Duo too long if you are cracking jokes at your own expense."

"Maybe I'll go back to school, as well," I mused. "Because, let's be honest I'm only good at two things – kill people and learning."

"That's not true! You're good at a lot of things!" Duo argued looking at me. "What did you want to do when you were a little kid before climbing in those big machines of ours?"

"I wanted to build those big machines," I admitted. "My parents wanted me to be the scholar in the family and I was okay with that. I wanted to learn everything but was particularly attracted to engineering and all of the sciences."

"That's really cool," Duo admitted. "I bet I could bring you in with the Sweepers to work on the tinkering end of things. It's not great pay but you'd get to build things."

"Acutally," Quatre interrupted. "He could use the trust fund that Lady Une is going to offer him to go to college like Odin is doing."

"I'm still amused by that name for Heero," Duo joked. "But seriously, there has to be a catch to those funds. I don't trust Lady Une and I really don't trust Treize."

"I swear to you, there is no catch," he explained to us. "All that happened with Odin is that Lady Une helped him set up an identity that did not tie him to the Gundams, gave him high school credentials, and helped sign him up for his university. WuFei wouldn't need as much set up since he actually did attend schools Earthside as himself and his name isn't as tied to the Gundams as the name "Heero Yuy" was."

I sat there thinking about this for a long while. Quatre and Duo continued to discuss what was going on with the other pilots. I was trying to wrap my head around the possibility of actually doing what I wanted to do when I was a child. Even since coming to L2 with May, I had not given my future much of a thought other than it was going to be with Duo and May. I never figured that I would even want to make life plans like I had had as a child. I felt that I had changed so much from that naïve little boy with the glasses and his nose in a text book. I wondered if I could even go back to school and be that person again.

Quatre eventually excused himself to go check into his hotel room. He said that he would be back later with dinner so he could meet Mariemaia. He said that Lady Une would probably be arriving tomorrow so not to run off. We laughed at that.

I sat on the couch for a long while just thinking after he left. May would be home soon and I would not get much of a chance to think with her home and with Quatre returning with dinner.

"You're thinking of the future aren't you?" Duo asked passing the teddy bear to me. I held it him lap but did look at it. I was looking at him. My little talk with Quatre had made me think of many things that I had been avoiding over the last few weeks.

"Yeah," I replied. "I never thought that I'd have a future – after the war that is. I expected to die. I was not nearly as strong as Merian was and she still died."

Duo put his hand on my knee again and squeezed. "You were plenty strong enough to survive. I guess I never really had the luxury of having childhood dreams. When I was a kid, all I wanted to be was a grown up so that I could work and not have to steal food. I didn't care where I worked as long as it would buy me food."

I laid my hand on his to comfort him. His childhood had been truly horrific compared to mine. Where I had boarding schools and strict decorum, he had violence, poverty, and prostitution.

"Do you want to work with the Sweepers or go back to school like Odin? I mean, if you really wanted to, you could join the Preventers with Quat and Tro," he offered. "You and May can go wherever you like if that is what you want to do."

"I don't know what I want to do yet," I replied honestly.

"Well, you have plenty of time to think about it."

"I do know, that whatever I chose to do with my life, that it has to include you," I replied with some nervousness in my voice. I was trying to be honest with myself now. I cared very deeply about the other former pilot. I can't really say if I was attracted to him physically since I had never really thought about anyone that way. Not since my wife and we were so young and only doing what was expected of us. I had never really explored my attraction to her. I knew, for certainty, that my life was better when I was with Duo than when I was away from him.

"Fei?" He said my name like a question as he searchingly looked into my eyes.

"I know that you are, uh, attracted to me," I stammered feeling my face heat up with a blush. "I don't know how these things work considering I had been betrothed since early childhood and married at puberty so the whole attraction thing is a little beyond me still. I know that you are the most important person in my life, besides May, and I don't want to lose you."

I probably would have continued to try to explain the confusion that I was feeling but I was stopped when Duo leaned in and kissed me on the lips. It wasn't the quickly peck he had given me up in that tree so many months before. It was a real, passionate kiss. My brain tried to analyze if the kiss changed my attraction to him or to understand what was going on but I was finding it hard to even think. I finally just gave up and started kissing him back. He snaked a hand around to cup the back of my neck and deepened the kiss. I was fully lost in the sensation until we both jumped up, out of breath, when the apartment door opened.

"I'm home!" May yelled as only an exuberant seven year old could.

I looked over at Duo who was as breathless as I was and whose cheeks were flaming with a blush that looked as red as mine felt.

He muttered under his breath, "I guess this is what it feels like to be caught kissing by your parents."

I laughed and got up from the couch just in time to receive a hug from May who had run into the living room in search of us.

I still was not sure what I what I wanted to do with my life but I knew one thing for certain – it would have to involve both Duo and May.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a extra chapter because Makoto Sagara is too encouraging. That and I wanted more kissing.

That night, Quatre brought over some pizza and I played some board games with him, Duo, and Mariemaia. The little girl took to him instantly but Quatre explained that being from such a large family, he was used to being around his nieces and nephews when they were little. May chattered on endless with him about the kids in her class and her teachers.

It got to the point that she was dozing off while sitting on the couch next to Quatre that the young Preventer finally excused himself to head back to his hotel room. Duo protested that he should save his money and spend the time at the apartment but Quatre declined. He mentioned something about expecting a phone call from headquarters and the smile on his face made me assume that it was going to be more than just a work call. I suspected that Trowa would be the one calling him.

May whined some when I took her to get ready for bed. She wanted to stay up and keep playing games. I had to tell her that since it was a school night, she still had to go to bed on time. Duo reminded her that Quatre would be visiting again while he was on the colony and that seemed to appease her some. I got her tucked into bed and then made my way back out to the living room to help Duo clean up.

"Is she asleep?" He asked me.

"Out like a light the moment her head hit the pillow," I replied while picking up the last pieces to the board game we had played. Duo reached out to help and his hand brushed mine. I didn't really think anything of it though until he did it a second time putting another piece in the box. I looked at him that time to see that he was already staring at me. I smiled realizing that he had done that on purpose. I didn't know what to do so I got up to put the game box back in the closet.

I turned around when I felt a tug on my hair. As I turned though, I felt my hair fall loose and wisp around my face. I blew a few stray strands out of my eyes before fixing my glare on the thief. Admittedly, Duo did not look repentant at all.

"You look better with your hair down," he explained putting the pilfered hair band in his pocket.  
I did not know how to respond to that. I'm pretty sure he was flirting with me which was a completely new experience. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. I seemed to be prone to blushing lately.

"Can I touch you?" He asked quietly.

"Huh?" was as eloquent of a response that I could make right then. The look in his eyes right then confirmed what I had told Winner earlier that he was definitely attracted to me.

"I mean," he explained taking half a step closer. "If we're going to be in some sort of relationship, that you know, involves kissing, can I touch you, too?"

"Kissing?" I replied still fixated on the look in his eyes. "I liked the kissing. What do you mean 'touching'?"

He reached out and brushed his fingertips across my cheek and then tucked a stray hair behind my ear. I could feel myself leaning into his gentle touch. "Like when we were sitting on the floor playing the games tonight, I wanted to grab your hand or put my arm around you. I just really wanted to touch you but I wasn't sure if you wanted me to."

I took a second to analyze what he was asking of me. He was attracted to me and wanted to be in physical contact with me. I had really enjoyed the kiss we had shared earlier and would be definitely open to more kissing. I then thought of the little touches on my hand while cleaning up and his fingertips on my cheek moments before. I honestly liked those. I was comfortable with him hugging me, too.

"I think I would be okay with that," I finally said extending my hand to him which he stared at for the briefest of moments before taking it in his own. He tugged slightly at my hand and I felt myself being drawn closer to him. I was looking once again into those eyes of his with their almost impossible shade of violet. I glanced down at his nose and noted that those freckles that I had seen on them when we had been living on Earth during the war were staring to fade. My eyes drifted lower to his lips. I remembered that kiss we had shared hours before and wanted to experience that again. I leaned forward and kissed him on those lips.

I think I surprised Duo by my boldness. I raised my free hand and touched his cheek. He leaned into my touch while deepening the kiss. I stroked my thumb across his skin. While he was still holding tightly to my hand, he wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. Our bodies were flush together. He finally let go of my hand to run his fingers through my loose hair. I hesitated slightly trying to figure out where to put my newly released hand and settled on resting it on his hip.

Duo finally pulled back from the kiss. "Wow."

"Yeah," was all I could say.

"I could get used to this," he said leaning in to kiss me again. My brain started to question every little movement or body placement. I finally just gave up; I was enjoying the kiss too much to think about it. At some point, we had made it over to the well worn couch and by the time my brain started to reengage, I was not quite sure how we got in the position we were in. I found myself perched on his lap facing him with one hand in his braid and the other on his shoulder. Both of his arms were wrapped low around my back. My knees were on the couch straddling his legs; it should have felt awkward or strange but it did not.

"We better stop or we may go further than what you're ready for, Fei."

I was leaning my forehead on his trying to catch my breath. I wanted to argue that I was so ready for more but taking a few breaths in helped to clear my head. I knew he was right. If someone would have told me this morning that by nightfall, I'd be sitting on Duo's lap sucking his face, I probably would have scoffed or maybe even hit them. My mind had put Duo firmly in the 'friend' category but I was starting to discover that my body had, uh, 'firmly' placed him in another category altogether. It was a category that up until today, I did not even know I had. I let my mind wander over into that category for a moment and realized that I only vaguely knew what it entailed and it scared and excited me at the same time. The scared was definitely the primary feeling right then though.

"You're right," I admitted. "This is all very new to me so I don't really even know anything about this."

"Heh, I was going to say the same thing," Duo admitted moving his hands from around my hips to lay them on my thighs. "I know a lot about sex but I've never really been in a relationship before. Speaking of, you know, sex - have you ever..."

"I was married and we were teenagers," I replied with a smirk. The look on his face at my response was priceless. "But with another guy, I'm not exactly sure how everything works."

"It works very well," he responded rubbing my thighs with his hands. "When you're ready, though. We won't go any faster than what you're ready for even though I'd really like to jump you right now."

"I also think jumping me right now on a couch with a seven year old asleep in another room is probably a poor parenting choice," I advised. I started to climb off of his lap but he grabbed my arm before I could get up.

"Can we at least stay on the couch for a while," he asked. "I don't really want to sleep on the floor tonight."

"We really need to address this whole only having one bed in the entire apartment issue," I admonished. "But, sure, I don't really want you sleeping on the floor tonight either."

Duo laid down and drew me down with him onto the couch. It took use several tries to arrange ourselves comfortably though. We finally settled on him laying on his back with me laying mostly on top of him. I had my head resting on his chest and our legs intertwined. I could hear his heart beating which I found very soothing.

"Remember when we fell asleep in that chair together during the thunderstorm?" He asked.

"Yeah," I did remember. It was really what led to this moment. That was the night that I discovered that Duo had been afraid of thunder. It was also what lead us to having that dreadful looking teddy bear.

"Have you thought any more about what you want to do, you know, beyond me?"

I thumped him in the chest for that comment. "Not really, I haven't had much time for thinking tonight. I was hoping to get some more information from Lady Une tomorrow before deciding."

"You can join the Preventers if you want," he offered. His breath was blowing my loose hair slightly as he spoke. "I'll follow you there, I just don't want to have to kill people any more. The God of Death is retired."

"I don't really want to do that either," I admitted. "I just really want to weigh my options before deciding."

"Where ever you want to go, Fei, you know I'm going with you. I'd follow you to anywhere in the Earthsphere or even to Mars."

"I don't think I want to go that far but maybe back down to Earth," I said. I was getting very tired. It had been a long day. I yawned and felt Duo stroke my hair. It was very comforting and I soon felt myself drifting off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Midnight at the Lost and Found

Arc: Lost Boys and Golden Girls

Rating: ages 13 and up

Author: Something Like Human

Notes: Seven years between updates and three within a week? Wow. Also, this is a fic in a series. Please read the "Storms" arc and then "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" arc.

Timeline: This arc takes place after the first war and (obviously) shortly before the Eve's War- round-about the fall of AC196. This one picks up directly after "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" takes place.

Warnings: AU (I really mess with the story from here on out), shounen ai.

Disclaimers: I don't own GW nor do I own the song "Midnight at the Lost and Found" by Meatloaf.

I woke up the next morning still wrapped in Duo's arms. I was surrounded completely by him - the feel of his arms around me, the sound of his soft, even breaths and heartbeat, and the scent of his skin. In spite of the cramped space on the couch we were sharing, I can honestly say that I had a good night's sleep. It was a pretty good feeling being snuggled on the old couch together. My wife and I, in what seemed like a lifetime ago, had engaged in sexual activties on numerous occassions but we never slept in the same bed together. I can't say that we were ever civil to each other except when we were having sex. It had started as an obligation to our clan but we had soon discovered that it was a good release for both of us. That was where our intimacy ended though. Once we had our release we went back to our separate lives - I to my studies and her to her training.

I sighed. I needed to get up. This was mostly due to my full bladder. I tried very carefully to extricate myself from Duo's grasp. There was just no graceful way to do it. I ended up losing my balance and landing on my ass on the floor beside the couch.

"Well, there went the romantic moment of waking up wrapped in your lover's arms," Duo sniped drowsily. I sat on the floor glaring up at him. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing hurt but my pride," I said pushing myself to my feet. "I didn't want to wake you. I see that I failed at that mission."

Duo was just sitting up and chuckling. I started to turn to make my way to the bathroom when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him. He kissed me soundly before tapping his finger on my nose. "Good morning, my graceful dragon!"

I sputtered at his good natured teasing. This gave him enough time to bolt around me and duck into the bathroom ahead of me. The apartment only had one bathroom. All I had wanted to do was get up and go to the bathroom without waking him up.

"Brat!" I called after him.

A few minutes and a change of shifts in the bathroom later, I was in the kitchen pulling out some ceral and milk for our breakfasts while Duo was waking up May. I was annoyed at my hair falling in my face constantly but since the braided brat had stolen my last hair band last night and I didn't know where he kept his spare ones, I had nothing to pull my hair back with. It shouldn't have bothered me since for most of my life, I had worn it loose. It was only when I was piloting that I had taken to tying it back.

"Morning, Fei," May mumbled climbing onto a kitchen chair. She was not much of a morning person until after she got her breakfast into her. Duo had jokingly started calling her morning cereal 'rocket fuel' because she just didn't seem to take off without it.

Duo walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cold slice of left over pizza from the fridge before plopping down on his seat beside me. His leg brushed mine under the small table and I looked at him while he casually started nibbling on the cold slice.

"That's not breakfast, silly!" May said with a giggle. I could tell that her rocket fuel was finally starting to wake her up.

"That's where you're wrong, Missy," he replied biting off another piece. "It's the perfect breakfast food since it's got grains in the crust, milk in the cheese, and protien in the pepperoni. It's got everything covered."

"It's got everything covered in grease," I intoned digging into my bowl of cereal.

"I'll balance it out with a granola bar later," he said scanning the table for his coffee cup. I grabbed it for him and went to hand it to him. When he took it from me, his fingers lingered on mine for a moment longer than one could call an accident. I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up realizing that his hand on mine and his leg brushing my under the table were deliberate touches. They were, in the scheme of things, rather tame but the message was clear. He wanted to keep touching me.

"Time to get ready for school, May-bunny," Duo said after taking a swig of his coffee. "Hop to it!"

She scampered off into her bedroom to get dressed. I followed her in a few minutes later to make sure that she was ready to go. Duo then ducked into the bathroom to shower. I ended up brushing her hair for her and trying to put a few clips in her short locks. It seems that a girl at school had taken a liking to her and shared a few hair clips with little dragonflies on them.

"You look very nice today," I told her putting the brush down.

"I wish my hair was longer," she said rather unexpectedly. "How come I'm the girl here and I have the shortest hair! I didn't know that yours was that long."

"Well, someone was being a brat and stole my hair band last night and won't give it back," stated in a joking tone. "Maybe I can borrow one of your hair clips to pin my hair out of my face."

Her little hand went up to cover the green and blue dragonfly in her hair. "No! I told Tessa I'd wear them today! I never had a friend give me something before so I promised that I wear them."

"Then I'll leave you wear them," I said smoothing down the collar of her shirt. "I think to spite him, I'll just leave my hair down."

She giggled. "That'll really make him wonder if your not upset by his prank."

"That's the plan," I replied with a wink. We then got her backpack and sent her out the door. She met up with the little boy two apartments down and his mom. They had been nice enough to offer to walk May with them every day since the two were in the same class.

I met Duo back in his bedroom. He was wearing nothing but a towel and his long braid pinned up on his head to keep it dry. I found myself staring at his naked chest and then my eyes drifted down to where his left hand grasp the towel around his waist. He was naked under that towel. I could not tear my eyes away from the sight of him.

It seems that my libido had an 'on and off' switch. I had firmly turned it off after Meilan died and somehow Duo had flicked that switch on last night and then tore out the controls. My body was very confused at that moment because it didn't know whether to use all my blood to make me blush or send it further south to other things that aparently wanted attention.

I finally shook my head and ripped my gaze away from his waistline. I licked my lips slightly and looked at his face only to realize that he was the one blushing. He had caught me checking him out and it made him blush. Even his ears were turning red.

I didn' know what to say to him so I just grabbed some clothes and ducked into the bathroom to shower myself. Once under the warm stream of water I let my mind wander back of the events of last night and this morning. I ended up having to give myself a little bit of attention because my thoughts were not altogether analytical.

I washed my hair, showered and then got dressed in the bathroom. I left my hair loose to air dry. When I exited the bathroom, I realized that Duo and I had inadvertantly dressed almost identically in blue jeans and black tshirts.

"We really need to get some more clothes," Duo said with a laugh. "Not that I mind you wearing mine since they fit and all but I'm sure we'll really start to make people wonder why we're dressed alike."

"I'm not sure of your definition of 'fit', Maxwell," I replied throwing my towel over the rack to dry. I pointed to his jeans that I was wearing which were slung very low on my hips since my waist and hips were slightly thinner than his. "The waist is too big, and the legs are too long," I explained pointing to my feet where the material pooled slightly around my bare feet. "And my thighs are bigger than yours so they are a little tight around my legs."

"I'm not seeing a problem here," he replied with what could only be described as a leer. He turned and dug around in his dresser for a moment before tossing me another shirt. "Here, try this one, it's at least a different color so we're not dressed like the Bobbsey Twins."

The shirt was red which was not a color I normally wore but it would do. I deliberately changed shirts in front of him to see what he would do. As soon as I pulled the red cotton over my head, he was kissing me.

"You are such a tease, Fei," he said before heading out of the bedroom. "I'm going to call in to Hilde and let her know I won't be in today since Lady Une is coming. Maybe we can sit down and make a list for the store before she gets here. I don't know what we were thinking the last time we were out and only bought May school clothes. You need some of your own stuff, too."


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Midnight at the Lost and Found

Arc: Lost Boys and Golden Girls

Rating: ages 13 and up

Author: Something Like Human

Notes: Still plugging away at this fic. Also, this is a fic in a series. Please read the "Storms" arc and then "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" arc.

Timeline: This arc takes place after the first war and (obviously) shortly before the Eve's War- round-about the fall of AC196. This one picks up directly after "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" takes place.

Warnings: AU (I really mess with the story from here on out), shounen ai.

Disclaimers: I don't own GW nor do I own the song "Midnight at the Lost and Found" by Meatloaf.

Lady Une had indeed come that day to our tiny apartment. She made her plea to get us to join the Preventers but we both turned her down. Duo insisted that he was retired from that way of life; I had told her that despite all signs pointing to the contrary, that I was really not a warrior. She accepted that but warned us that she may ask again if our expertise should ever be needed.

Une then got to meet May when she got home from school. I could tell that she was uncomfortable around the child that I suspect stemmed from her deep relationship with the girl's father. As it turned out from the genetic testing, May really was not a Khushrenada. I can't say that I was surprised. Dekim had always seemed to be grasping at straws to promote the little girl as a symbol for his revolution. I was actually a little relieved that she was just a war orphan like the rest of us without the legacy of having such a well known name.

May also was relieved. She had asked Lady Une since she really was just a plain old war orphan if she could make Duo and I her official family. I'm still surprised that Une never questioned that. She had just smiled and asked if we wanted guardianship papers or full adoption papers. We did not even need to discuss our choices there. So the head of the Preventers pulled some strings and got us some official adoption papers drawn up ignoring the fact that neither Duo nor I were old enough to even be emancipated ourselves.

"Can I pick my own name?" the little redhead asked us on the way to meet with Une's lawyer who had drawn up the adoption papers about a week after we had gotten the results to the DNA test.

"I don't see why not," I replied. "You're finally free of your grandfather's control and Treize's legacy. You can pick to be whomever you want."

"Well, I'm okay with it as long as it's not something like Rainbowbrite Pumpkin Moombeam," Duo said with a wink. "Picking your own name is a huge responsibility."

The little girl was biting her lip and looking down at her hands. I put my arm around her shoulders and asked, "What's wrong?"

It took her a moment to answer me, "Well, I was thinking, and I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything, but, since Duo has told me all about himself being an orphan and growing up on the streets without anyone to love him but then finding the church and being loved and taken care of there. He took that name from there. I was wondering, if it would be alright if I took that name, too."

I looked over to Duo to see a tear run down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly with the back of his hand. He had been opening up a lot to me and to the child about his past lately. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He smiled at me and then smiled at May.

"Little one," I said addressing her. "I think Father Maxwell and everyone at the church would be honored to have one such as you named after them."

"Here," she said handing me a piece of scrap paper from out of her pocket. "I've been thinking about it for a while now and this is really what I want my name to be."

I unfolded the tattered paper. She had written and scribbled all over it like she had been testing out names. I could see through the scribbles that she had been trying out numerous variations and combinations of all of our names put together. She also had Father Maxwell and Sister Helen's names on the page and then I noticed she had also written my wife's name on there as well. She had it spelled as May Lan instead of Meilan but I was really touched that it was listed right along with all the other names. At the bottom of the paper, a name was circled with a purple crayon.

"May Maxwell," I read aloud.

"I couldn't get your name to work in there some way," she apologized to me. "But your wife's name was May-Lan and my name is Marieamaia, which is a mouthful, but both can be shortened to May. That way, I'm named after all the important people in your lives."

It was my turn to have tears in my eyes.

"That is a beautiful name, Miss May Maxwell." It seemed that Duo had found his voice before I could find mine. Her declaration that she wanted to be named after our families, the ones we cared the most about, made me realize more acutely that we really were going to be legally a family after signing those papers. Years after my beloved wife, Meilan, died, I was going to be a father. To me it didn't matter that Duo and I were nothing but teenagers ourselves. We both had finally made our own family. He was legally going to be as much her father as I was. It didn't matter that our romantic relationship was so very new; we were a family. That night on the couch early on during the war where we had huddled not as fierce warriors but as two children taking shelter from a storm had made us a family. Both of us had been so lost then, alone, having lost our families and everyone that we had ever loved. We were now forging our new family on our own terms.

When we walked into the lawyer's office to sign the adoption papers we were met with a surprise. Not only had Lady Une got us adoption papers, she also had two shiny new sets of identification packets for Duo and I. Duo had never really had a birth certificate or any true identification cards while mine had been lost with the colony.

I laughed looking at mine, "It looks like we're legal now. She had my birth day changed so that I'm officially 18 now."

Duo had been very quietly looking over his own papers. I glanced over to his papers which were shaking slightly with the tremble in his hands. "I have a birthday! I've never had one of those before!"

"When is it?" I asked feeling his excitement.

"Today!" He exclaimed.

"Well, then we should have a party!" May suggested.

The lawyer chose that time to explain the extra paperwork. "I could not very well file papers for adoption of a minor when the adopting parties were both minors themselves. When I contacted Preventer Une, she gave me permission to create your legal identities that you have in your hands now. She also pointed out that it would be easier for you to find employment, travel, or enroll in schools now that you are of the age of majority. Mr. Chang, you'll note that your birth certificate not only changed your birth year but your colony of origin is now L2. It is easier to invent new people here because of how meticulous the records had had been at the time of your birth on L5. Legally, you were both wards of the Maxwell Church orphanage and later a series of separate foster homes across L2 where you met the little one."

"So I guess that makes me American now," I joked.

"Well, it was just easier that way. L2's legal system was so corrupt before the war that it will take at least a generation of work to sort out their foster care system alone," he explained. "No one will question the three of you with those records. We have Mariemaia listed as a foster child who was hard to place and wound up in the last home with you two. When that foster parent unfortunately passed away, I'm sorry for your loss," he actually winked at that. "You three chose to stick together to keep the girl from being passed around to even more foster homes."

I bowed deeply to the lawyer. "Thank you, sir. We really appreciate this. You seem to have gone through a lot of trouble for us."

"It was actually kind of fun getting creative with your backgrounds," he replied extending his hand for me to shake. I shook it with a smile on my face and then elbowed Duo to remind him to thank the man.

Duo looked up from his papers and muttered a thank you to the man as well. The lawyer reached out and shook Duo's hand before saying, "And Happy Birthday, young man!"

"I have a birthday," Duo said still looking a bit shocked.

The lawyer then knelt down by May to shake her hand. She ignored his hand and gave him a big hug. Unshaken, the man hugged her back before looking back to us. "Congratulations, gentleman. It's a girl!"

May giggled and then hugged us both in turn. We walked out of the lawyer's office with May between us holding our hands. She was practically skipping along the sidewalk and humming to herself.

"Well, Duo, since it's your first ever birthday, what do you want to do to celebrate?" I asked not even attempting to hide my smile.

"Well, since I am 18 now, how about a last hurrah as a kid and having pizza party and going to the arcade?"

"Can we go?" May begged tugging at my hand. I'm not sure when I became the responsible one out of the three of us kids. I had to correct my train of thought. I was already an adult according to my driver's and pilot's licence that Une had provided me.

"As long as I can have a chocolate milkshake," I declared and began heading in the direction of Duo's favorite pizza place.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Midnight at the Lost and Found

Arc: Lost Boys and Golden Girls

Rating: ages 13 and up

Author: Something Like Human

Notes: Still plugging away at this fic. Also, this is a fic in a series. Please read the "Storms" arc and then "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" arc.

Timeline: This arc takes place after the first war and (obviously) shortly before the Eve's War- round-about the fall of AC196. This one picks up directly after "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" takes place.

Warnings: AU (I really mess with the story from here on out), shounen ai.

Disclaimers: I don't own GW nor do I own the song "Midnight at the Lost and Found" by Meatloaf.

The morning after Duo's birthday was rather routine. We got May off to school on time and Duo did not have to go into work until later that day. He was going to have to go out to space to get more debris that was floating closer to the colony. He would be gone over night and most of the day tomorrow. It was going to be the first time that Duo would be away at night due to his job since May and I had arrived.

I had just finished showering and thrown on some jeans. I hadn't put my shirt on yet because I didn't want my wet hair to drip on it. I openned the bathroom door to let the steam out though while I towel dried my wet hair. I was just getting ready to comb it when I caught sight of a shaddow in the tiny bathroom mirror.

"I'll be done a minute, Duo, and you can have the shower," I said trying to finish combing my hair.

"You know, it should be illegal for you to wear a shirt. Well, at least at home," he said with his voice taking on a dark tone. "I don't want to share the sight of you in my jeans with everyone. I'd have to fight people off just to keep your virtue."

I realized he was flirting with me but the image of him fighting off people who thought that I was attractive was enough to make me laugh. "I don't think you have to worry about fighting people off just to keep me. I'm not exactly most people's idea of attractive."

"I beg to differ there, 'Fei," he replied walking up behind me. Duo wrapped his arms around my bare chest. He molded his slightly taller body against mine. His chin rested on my shoulder with his right cheek against my left. His hands started tracing along the muscles in my abdomen. I was glad that I was not ticklish. "You seriously must not be looking in the same mirror that I am."

"I am pretty sure that I am quite familiar with what I look like," I replied as I relaxed into his arms. His lips found my neck and I let my head fall back to rest on his shoulder behind me. His hands continued to work their way over my skin. One hand was moving upwards towards my chest.

"Then you don't see what I see," he said between licks and nips at my throat. "But you'll have to excuse me for not being able to verbally explain to you. I don't exactly have the same extensive vocabulary you do. I'm going to have to just show you what I mean."

I tried to argue that he was just as smart as I was but my words were lost when he turned my head towards his and captured my lips.

AND SINCE THIS IS , PLEASE GO TO MAKOTO SAGARA'S SITE FOR THE REST OF THE CHAPTER! The rest of this hot scene will be an exclusive to Makoto Sagara's site! (you know you want to read it... you've been waiting ten years for it to happen!) please follow the link in my profile for the adult section of this fic.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Midnight at the Lost and Found

Arc: Lost Boys and Golden Girls

Rating: ages 13 and up

Author: Something Like Human

Notes: This will be the last chapter in this fic. I will be continuing the arc though so watch out for that. Also, this is a fic in a series. Please read the "Storms" arc and then "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" arc.

Timeline: This arc takes place after the first war and (obviously) shortly before the Eve's War- round-about the fall of AC196. This one picks up directly after "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" takes place.

Warnings: AU (I really mess with the story from here on out), shounen ai.

Disclaimers: I don't own GW nor do I own the song "Midnight at the Lost and Found" by Meatloaf.

The park next to May's school was actually really nice for L2. We thankfully lived near one of the best schools in the sector. The area we lived in was very far removed from the area in which Duo had grown up in. It was L2, so it still wasn't great but it was definitely getting better and the park was proof of that. It was field day for May's school and the parents were invited to join in. May was running around with the other kids in her class participating in games and activities.

Duo and I had a picnic blanket set up near the other parents. We were parked next to our neighbor from the apartment building. She had encouraged us to go today because it was always a really nice day out. Duo was laying back on the artificial grass staring up at the ceiling of the colony. He had a smile on his face. I watched May as she ran and chased after some of the other kids in her class.

"She looks just like a normal kiddo out there," Duo said leaning up on his elbows.

I nodded and smiled. "She really has adapted well since coming here. Kid's are so resilient."

"You've done right by her, she would not have lasted much longer with her grandfather without it causing permanent damage to her psyche," he replied. "Anyways, you say that like we aren't just kids ourselves."

"We're old men," I joked. "Back in our day, kids didn't get up to these shenanigans, they trained for war! Kids these days... they need to get off my lawn!"

Duo got to laughing so hard the other parents started to stare at us. I was very aware that we stood out among the parents. There were a few other same sex couples with kids in the school. We were just the youngest looking. May had even told us that her friend Tessa was being raised by her older sister who was about twenty-two.

"It wasn't that funny," I said trying to quiet him down.

"You're just too cute when you're curmudgeonly," Duo said flopping back down on the grass. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down next to him. "Come here, you."

I laid down in the grass perpendicular to him. I had my head laying on his stomach. He was running his fingers through my loose hair. I picked up the end of his braid and was twirling it in my fingers.

"So Fei, my love," he said to me softly. "Have you thought any more of our future?"

"Yeah, I've been doing that a lot lately," I replied. "What are your thoughts of going to Earth again?"

"You mean, getting to lay like this in real grass and actually under the sun? Did you really have to ask that?"

"I promise to hold you through all thunderstorms if we go."

He poked me on the cheek with a chuckle. "I would hope that you'd hold me more often than that."

"I plan on it," I replied with a smile. "There's a college program in the US that I'd like to do working on converting mobile suit technology to more peacetime endeavors like farm and construction equipment."

"That sounds right up your alley!"

"Yeah, I figured that we could both take that offer from Une, find a place to settle down and both of us enroll in college."

"You think I should enroll, too?"

"Duo, please, you're doing menial tasks for minimum wage right now. You are way more capable than that. I think you'd be happier, too, finding something you want to do."

"I know exactly what I want to do," he replied.

"Pervert," I said to him.

"You love me anyways though," he said continuing to stroke my hair.

"I do," I replied closing my eyes and resting. I almost dozed off until May came running over to us. She jumped on my stomach with a very girly giggle. I made the appropriate 'oof' noise at her. "Having fun, kiddo?"

"Uh -huh!" She said with a bright smile and a nod. "I didn't win the race but I tried really hard."

"We saw that," Duo said. "You tried hard and had fun so that is what counts."

"Can we do the piggyback relay race later? They only do it with the little kids - like first graders because the parents have to carry the kids and run. The older kids are too big."

"Feel like a little running, Shinigami?" I asked sitting up and dumping the spritely little redhead on to my lap. She giggled as she fell backwards from sitting on my stomach.

"You know me, I run and hide!"

"We're not playing hide and seek today, silly," May joked as she got up from my lap and plopped down on the picnic blanket.

"Well, darn," he said with a grin. "How about we just run then?"

"Sounds good to me," the little girl said. "Can I have a sandwich?"

"Lunch sounds great," I said moving over to the blanket and pulling out our lunch from our bag. The other families were starting to each lunch as well. May filled our lunch break with chatter about what had been going on all day. She told us about some of the kids whose parents had to work or those that just didn't come. She told us that she wanted Tessa, who was turning into her best friend here at school.

After lunch she got us all lined up for the relay race. She was perched on my back like a little monkey holding on and waitng for the race to start. I did not think that it was really fair since we were about half the age of the other parents but no one said anything. It was a short run once they let us go. I was up and back pretty quickly and quite a bit ahead of the other parents. May giggled as I passed her off to Duo. He took off like a shot. He was up to the turn before some of the parents had even switched off their squealing burdens. May was holding on for dear life and cheering Duo on the whole time.

"We won!" May squealed while bouncing on his back.

"Hey, we always make a good team," Duo said while running a circle around me. The other parents were just finishing the race then.

May's teacher gave her a blue ribbon that was promptly pinned to her shirt. She was just beaming from where she was still riding on Duo's back. She grabbed a hold of Duo's braid and jokingly said, "Giddy up, pony," which he obliged by gallopping around the park with her.

Watching them goof off and play so happily reassured me. We were going to be alright. We would all adjust to this time of peace. It would take some time for us to adapt to living on Earth and going to school but I think we would be okay. We would find a good school for May and maybe some activities for her to do after school. We would have to contact Lady Une about the trust funds and for some help getting into the program that I wanted to. It might even be a good idea to contact Yuy to see how he was doing the whole school thing. Hopefully, Quatre and Trowa and the rest of the Preventers could find Dekim Barton and stop him for his plans of world domination. May was safe and happy with us. That was what mattered most. Duo and I had found each other again and found that we actually loved each other. It was a new thing for both of us but it was exciting rather than scary. I was happy with our life and ready to take the next step. I was looking forward to my life with Duo and May.

Author's Note: This chapter ends Midnight at the Lost and Found. I will be continuing the arc at some point becuase having the boys in college will be so entertaining. But for now, this part of their lives are done. On to the next!


End file.
